So it came as good news to the Plymouth High School senior that this school year, she'd not only get a hands-on lesson with prawns, but eventually she'd get to eat the student-raised crustaceans through the district's lunch program.

Allison, 17, and her classmates in Biotechnical Engineering will do the honors of harvesting the shrimp at the end of the school year after ongoing lessons with the animals, and the plan is for lunch staff to incorporate them into meals.

It's just one of the new learning opportunities made possible with the district's newly opened Food Science and Agriculture Center.

“Last year, they (the Biotechnical Engineering class) just researched it, but now, this year, we’re actually testing it out with the prawns and everything, so we’re more involved," Allison said. "It’s really fun.”

Students in the Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah School District are also enjoying the fruits of their new greenhouse, which opened for the start of the 2015-16 school year.

Teachers involved with both programs say the new facilities will significantly boost students' agriculture and biological/environmental science studies, as well as aid the schools' culinary arts programs. Additionally, Plymouth officials say the agriculture center will support curriculum in engineering, health and business classes.

Elkhart Lake's $286,947 greenhouse — paid for mostly by donations from the community — is a 1,625-square-foot addition to the high school school building that students district-wide, from 3K up to high school, have already begun utilizing.

The district is holding an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new space from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25.

"It’s important for kids to know where their food comes from and how it’s grown," said agriculture teacher Michelle Arbuckle. "Now there's room for students to be doing different things and learning different aspects, from growing it to eating it — the whole process."

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Izaiah Annis works on preparing plantings in the new Elkhart Lake High School greenhouse Tuesday October 20, 2015 in Elkhart Lake.(Photo11: Gary C. Klein/Sheboygan Press Media)

Plymouth's approximately $1 million agriculture center features a 30-by-90-foot greenhouse — upgraded from the one the districts' students used in previous years — as well as a 30-by-80-foot classroom and lab space. Funds for the project were raised by the Plymouth Education Foundation.

Additionally, the Plymouth building comes with enhanced tools and resources, including hydroponics, for growing plants in water without soil; aquaponics, a mutually beneficial growing system with fish and plants; and refractometers, which measure sugar levels in vegetables to determine peak harvest time for best flavor.

"By having this space it just creates a whole new learning laboratory for our students, full of new learning opportunities," said agriculture teacher Tracy Heinbuch. "The ability to actually grow at a larger quantity that we can have an impact on our school is phenomenal. The students can actually grow this food and then see it on the lunch line and eat it, and they can know that it was harvested that day or the day before."

In its first months of operation, Plymouth students have been heavily involved in the installation of the growing systems, which has provided its own learning experience, said Heinbuch.

The facilities will impact a majority of both student bodies, say school officials. Plymouth's center will benefit nearly three-quarters of Plymouth high-schoolers, while over 90 percent of Elkhart Lake's high-schoolers are enrolled in at least one class in the areas of culinary arts, agri-science or environmental science.

Bri Jankowski, a senior at Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, is among the students utilizing the new facility this year. She and classmates in her horticulture class spent a day last week weighing and feeding tilapia, harvesting produce, testing PH levels and planting kale and lettuce seeds.

Bri, 17, transferred into the rural Sheboygan County district from West Bend last school year and was excited to find she also gained access to an agriculture program with the switch.

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The exterior of the new Elkhart Lake High School greenhouse Tuesday October 20, 2015 in Elkhart Lake.(Photo11: Gary C. Klein/Sheboygan Press Media)

Plymouth's Allison doesn't plan on pursuing a career in agriculture or any field related to her studies in the agriculture center, but the classes have proven useful and interesting to her nonetheless.

"I find them (the classes) fun," Allison said. "It’s fun to just build these systems and see how they grow."